Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs

Gender Identity Politics in Nicaragua, 1979-1999
Erscheinungsjahr 2001
ISBN: 978-0-8018-6764-4
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 535 g

How did a group of overwhelmingly poor, older women in a third-world country emerge to become a powerful force in their country's politics? Founded during the Nicaraguan revolution, the Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs of Matagalpa comprises women who supported the revolution but did not carry guns; who, in their words, gave up their loved ones to the struggle.

In this book Lorraine Bayard de Volo focuses on this group to reveal what she calls "the dominant but rarely examined maternal identity politics of revolution, war, and democratization." Dividing Nicaraguan politics (1979-99) into four periods, Bayard de Volo uses both macro- and micro-levels of analysis to capture the dialectical relationship between large-scale political processes and the "micropolitics" of collective action. She shows how Sandinistas and anti-Sandinistas mobilized both mothers and maternal imagery and in turn analyzes how this imagery was adopted and manipulated by the Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs. Employing a feminist Gramscian approach to address the gendered nature of cultural politics and collective identity, the author shows how, in the battle to capture Nicaraguan hearts and minds, both sides relied primarily on maternal images of women. Such "mobilizing identities" propelled women into unprecedented levels of collective action, yet at the same time channeled them away from feminist priorities.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bayard de Volo, Lorraine

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. "We Want a Free Country for Our Children," 1977-1984
Chapter 2. Movement as Symbol: The Mothers of Matagalpa, 1979-1984
Chapter 3. The Priorities of War: Deferring Feminism, (Re) drafting Motherhood, 1984-1990
Chapter 4. The Latent and the Visible: The Mothers of Matagalpa in Two Dimensions, 1984-1990
Chapter 5. From a War of Bullets to a War of the Stomach: Discursive and Organizational Strategies and Regime Transition. 1990-1994
Chapter 6. Testing the Limits of Maternal Identity: Regime Change and Expanded Membership, 1990-1994
Chapter 7. Voice, Agency, and Identity: Counting the Mixed Blessings of Revolution and Maternal Identity Politics
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Bayard de Volo, Lorraine
Lorraine Bayard de Volo is an assistant professor in the departments of political science and women's studies at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Lorraine Bayard de Volo is an assistant professor in the departments of political science and women's studies at the University of Kansas, Lawrence.